I still haven't been able to find if XCOM2 is a dirty cheat and gives the players hidden bonuses to hit (and the aliens a penalty) on normal. Hopefully not doing so will prevent people complaining about the game "Cheating" on harder difficulties, because then everyone will get the same wonderful RNG shenanigans no matter the difficulty.
On the Firaxis stream they said that XCOM2's normal won't be cheating in player's favor any more.
That's fantastic, because I personally feel one of XCOM's biggest design flaws was doing that, because it just made going from normal to classic a gigantic cliff in difficulty. Also it made normal on XCOM much easier than it should have been.
Normal didn't do anything for you until you were down to 3 guys. Even then, it's just +10 aim for every miss, and -10 aim for every alien hit, resetting on a hit/miss respectively.
People drastically overstate it because, once again, people are bad at statistics.
Firstly, if you have FOUR soldiers it's 120% of displayed to hit value. EG: It gives you 20% bonus. You're on even terms at 5+
For every time you miss with a shot above 50% it adjusts your aim by 15% cumulatively. This is the in built "Gamblers fallacy" in normal.
Aliens chance to hit is decreased by 10% for every consequential hit they get, until they miss (then it resets to normal).
20% at 4 soldiers during the early part of the game - which is always - with a 15% bonus when you miss a >50% shot is absolutely massive. You don't need to understand statistics whatsoever to know that's a huge advantage. That's effectively ranking your soldiers up several times in aim right off the bat! Once you have 5+ soldiers you've probably ranked up, got some equipment and are now doing fairly well tactically, but it doesn't matter: If you lose one the game will go right back to giving you a whopping 20% bonus to hit. For all your attacks. Always. And a 15% cumulatively stacking bonus every time you miss, so once you start losing the game heavily compensates you. Except now it's compensating people who naturally have 80+ chances to hit.
So what is being overstated? 84% is the baseline for essentially a 100% shot on normal!*
Edit: Let me tell you, from modding the XCOM forums, the amount of people who think Normal has the "Correct" RNG and that Classic is broken cheating because they miss shots at 80% to hit was astounding. People literally had to have game code quoted to them proving that classic did nothing and that the game was manipulating numbers like a madman on normal to believe the game on normal was what was really cheating. Like if you miss a basic 65% shot, your next 65% shot is extremely close to 100% chance to hit, as it will be 65+20+15 = 100.
XCOM 2 doing away with this cheating is one of the best possible game design decisions they could have made.
*If this doesn't make sense, it's because the game soft caps the to bonus at a certain point and it has to get somewhere over 100% to really actually be 100% from bonus aim. At least according to the wiki and people I've asked.
Edit2: And sorry for the snarky response, but if you're going to say things like "People who don't understand statistics overstate it" you might want to actually be sure you know what you're talking about first
Going through EW one last time. Just got to the Portent mission.
This is way hard, right? Not just me? Because...fuck
It's almost unbeatable if you go into it blind, yes.
I hate nearly all the scripted maps in the original game, except maybe the base defense that only gets a nostalgia pass from me, with a passion. They are rote exercises in memorization and boring after the first time through, then it's a case of just remembering the spawns to trivialize any challenge they would have had. They were an utterly dreadful and completely anti-XCOM design, so I am over the moon they have done away with these scripted missions in XCOM2 (XCOM 2 procedurally generates its maps, even the gated story ones, so they will be different each time).
I will make one real exception: Newfoundland. Simply for entertainment value and concept. It can have a warm and happy place in my heart.
- Ashes & Temples (mostly because it varies the spawns & the verticality of the map is interesting to me)
- EXALT base siege because I will never, ever get tired of trashing that posh mansion while their computer ineffectually warns them about the 'security breach' (aka my MEC busting through their walls)
- Newfoundland, because there are a surprisingly large number of ways to tackle the map, including pure stealth
With Love and Courage
+2
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited January 2016
Okay, I am forced to concede the EXALT base assault is pretty fun.
It is hilarious blowing up their posh mansion, but I never do it anymore. EXALT are the single best EXP farm in the entire game, as their soldiers incompetently lemming into overwatch fire over and over. They are the best way to level up rookies or similar late game almost entirely safely. Ironically, because they don't have an objective to lemming towards in that mission, it means that specific level is the only time they'll ever be a significant threat to the player.
I still haven't been able to find if XCOM2 is a dirty cheat and gives the players hidden bonuses to hit (and the aliens a penalty) on normal. Hopefully not doing so will prevent people complaining about the game "Cheating" on harder difficulties, because then everyone will get the same wonderful RNG shenanigans no matter the difficulty.
On the Firaxis stream they said that XCOM2's normal won't be cheating in player's favor any more.
That's fantastic, because I personally feel one of XCOM's biggest design flaws was doing that, because it just made going from normal to classic a gigantic cliff in difficulty. Also it made normal on XCOM much easier than it should have been.
Normal didn't do anything for you until you were down to 3 guys. Even then, it's just +10 aim for every miss, and -10 aim for every alien hit, resetting on a hit/miss respectively.
People drastically overstate it because, once again, people are bad at statistics.
Firstly, if you have FOUR soldiers it's 120% of displayed to hit value. EG: It gives you 20% bonus. You're on even terms at 5+
For every time you miss with a shot above 50% it adjusts your aim by 15% cumulatively. This is the in built "Gamblers fallacy" in normal.
Aliens chance to hit is decreased by 10% for every consequential hit they get, until they miss (then it resets to normal).
20% at 4 soldiers during the early part of the game - which is always - with a 15% bonus when you miss a >50% shot is absolutely massive. You don't need to understand statistics whatsoever to know that's a huge advantage. That's effectively ranking your soldiers up several times in aim right off the bat! Once you have 5+ soldiers you've probably ranked up, got some equipment and are now doing fairly well tactically, but it doesn't matter: If you lose one the game will go right back to giving you a whopping 20% bonus to hit. For all your attacks. Always. And a 15% cumulatively stacking bonus every time you miss, so once you start losing the game heavily compensates you. Except now it's compensating people who naturally have 80+ chances to hit.
So what is being overstated? 84% is the baseline for essentially a 100% shot on normal!*
Edit: Let me tell you, from modding the XCOM forums, the amount of people who think Normal has the "Correct" RNG and that Classic is broken cheating because they miss shots at 80% to hit was astounding. People literally had to have game code quoted to them proving that classic did nothing and that the game was manipulating numbers like a madman on normal to believe the game on normal was what was really cheating. Like if you miss a basic 65% shot, your next 65% shot is extremely close to 100% chance to hit, as it will be 65+20+15 = 100.
XCOM 2 doing away with this cheating is one of the best possible game design decisions they could have made.
*If this doesn't make sense, it's because the game soft caps the to bonus at a certain point and it has to get somewhere over 100% to really actually be 100% from bonus aim. At least according to the wiki and people I've asked.
Edit2: And sorry for the snarky response, but if you're going to say things like "People who don't understand statistics overstate it" you might want to actually be sure you know what you're talking about first
Going through EW one last time. Just got to the Portent mission.
This is way hard, right? Not just me? Because...fuck
It's almost unbeatable if you go into it blind, yes.
I hate nearly all the scripted maps in the original game, except maybe the base defense that only gets a nostalgia pass from me, with a passion. They are rote exercises in memorization and boring after the first time through, then it's a case of just remembering the spawns to trivialize any challenge they would have had. They were an utterly dreadful and completely anti-XCOM design, so I am over the moon they have done away with these scripted missions in XCOM2 (XCOM 2 procedurally generates its maps, even the gated story ones, so they will be different each time).
I will make one real exception: Newfoundland. Simply for entertainment value and concept. It can have a warm and happy place in my heart.
Whoops, poor memory.
I'd like to point out that that wiki article is literally citing me, however.
+10
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I still haven't been able to find if XCOM2 is a dirty cheat and gives the players hidden bonuses to hit (and the aliens a penalty) on normal. Hopefully not doing so will prevent people complaining about the game "Cheating" on harder difficulties, because then everyone will get the same wonderful RNG shenanigans no matter the difficulty.
On the Firaxis stream they said that XCOM2's normal won't be cheating in player's favor any more.
That's fantastic, because I personally feel one of XCOM's biggest design flaws was doing that, because it just made going from normal to classic a gigantic cliff in difficulty. Also it made normal on XCOM much easier than it should have been.
Normal didn't do anything for you until you were down to 3 guys. Even then, it's just +10 aim for every miss, and -10 aim for every alien hit, resetting on a hit/miss respectively.
People drastically overstate it because, once again, people are bad at statistics.
Firstly, if you have FOUR soldiers it's 120% of displayed to hit value. EG: It gives you 20% bonus. You're on even terms at 5+
For every time you miss with a shot above 50% it adjusts your aim by 15% cumulatively. This is the in built "Gamblers fallacy" in normal.
Aliens chance to hit is decreased by 10% for every consequential hit they get, until they miss (then it resets to normal).
20% at 4 soldiers during the early part of the game - which is always - with a 15% bonus when you miss a >50% shot is absolutely massive. You don't need to understand statistics whatsoever to know that's a huge advantage. That's effectively ranking your soldiers up several times in aim right off the bat! Once you have 5+ soldiers you've probably ranked up, got some equipment and are now doing fairly well tactically, but it doesn't matter: If you lose one the game will go right back to giving you a whopping 20% bonus to hit. For all your attacks. Always. And a 15% cumulatively stacking bonus every time you miss, so once you start losing the game heavily compensates you. Except now it's compensating people who naturally have 80+ chances to hit.
So what is being overstated? 84% is the baseline for essentially a 100% shot on normal!*
Edit: Let me tell you, from modding the XCOM forums, the amount of people who think Normal has the "Correct" RNG and that Classic is broken cheating because they miss shots at 80% to hit was astounding. People literally had to have game code quoted to them proving that classic did nothing and that the game was manipulating numbers like a madman on normal to believe the game on normal was what was really cheating. Like if you miss a basic 65% shot, your next 65% shot is extremely close to 100% chance to hit, as it will be 65+20+15 = 100.
XCOM 2 doing away with this cheating is one of the best possible game design decisions they could have made.
*If this doesn't make sense, it's because the game soft caps the to bonus at a certain point and it has to get somewhere over 100% to really actually be 100% from bonus aim. At least according to the wiki and people I've asked.
Edit2: And sorry for the snarky response, but if you're going to say things like "People who don't understand statistics overstate it" you might want to actually be sure you know what you're talking about first
Going through EW one last time. Just got to the Portent mission.
This is way hard, right? Not just me? Because...fuck
It's almost unbeatable if you go into it blind, yes.
I hate nearly all the scripted maps in the original game, except maybe the base defense that only gets a nostalgia pass from me, with a passion. They are rote exercises in memorization and boring after the first time through, then it's a case of just remembering the spawns to trivialize any challenge they would have had. They were an utterly dreadful and completely anti-XCOM design, so I am over the moon they have done away with these scripted missions in XCOM2 (XCOM 2 procedurally generates its maps, even the gated story ones, so they will be different each time).
I will make one real exception: Newfoundland. Simply for entertainment value and concept. It can have a warm and happy place in my heart.
Whoops, poor memory.
I'd like to point out that that wiki article is literally citing me, however.
:hydra:
The delicious irony.
In fairness to you, I've had this discussion many times. I could set my clock by the regular "The RNG is cheating on classic and impossible, how can I mod the RNG to work like normal" discussion. In which a disbelieving poster just cannot fathom that he can do napkin math where 3 90% shots in a row missed, that's impossible, THEREFORE the game cheats means he does not, have any clue, how games involving random dice work.
I actually think incorporating gambler's fallacy, or some equivalent is really good game design, because it helps normalize results towards expected values. It has been used with resounding success in MOBA/MMO critical hits, which often deliberately aim for a 25% crit rate happening once every 4 hits or so, rather than it being a streaky crit-crit-crit-crit-crit, which is likely enough over large numbers of games, and can ruin a PVP fight.
The Normal mode calculation was too player biased for a non-easy mode, but I think it is a good idea.
And for @Aegeri since I know you come from a pen and paper background, a lot of successful systems have things like Fate points, action points, narrative control, etc. that help mitigate pure RNG. Of course, such a thing would be very in theme with XCOM, as instead of the gambler's fallacy system to normalize hits over a single mission, you could have pure RNG, but then use a Commander Point system for those really important rolls.
In my experience, "let the dice fall where they may!" sounds more fun than it actually is, and can mess up other gameplay systems when it delivers weird results.
+4
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MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
XCOM already has a bunch of ways to manipulate the numbers via gameplay mechanics that are reasonably well surfaced though. Hell XCOM 2 goes even further by giving you an itemized list of everything affecting your accuracy at that moment.
Having the game massage the numbers behind the scenes on some difficulties and not others just leads to an uneven difficulty curve.
I mean, ideally I'd like to see custom difficulties that allow greater granularity in difficulty. Like in EU/EW I'd gladly take Impossible difficulty on the tactical layer, if I could make the strategy layer like... Normal difficulty or something so I barely need to worry about it because I think it's largely bad and not fun. But like, apply that to other stuff like "Do you want the system to boost your hit rates for each miss" and so on and so forth.
And before anyone mentions it, I'm aware there is probably some mod or another that could accomplish my desired "Don't give a shit about strategy layer" difficulty mode.
I always thought the jump from normal to classic was tough. I always wanted something inbetween normal and classic.
Side note aiming angles and flank critical for second wave are my favourite. Nothing better than getting that sweet 9 dmg critical when your barrel is jammed in a sectoids mouth.
Now if they would just release the character editor so I can begin Operation Dress up.
I saw a kid get handed a JB poster by who I presume was his parents outside my store today....he tore it in half infront of his horrified parents.....There's hope for our youth yet!
wiltingI had fun once and it was awfulRegistered Userregular
edited January 2016
For me the difficulty sweet spot was between Classic and Impossible. I could handle more/tougher enemies, but not those enemies having better hit/crit chance. Impossible was just too much work to play. I think a harder normal and a not-impossible Legend is what they are going for with XCOM2, which is exactly the right approach in my book. I'll be hopping into Legend straight away, barring a look at a lower difficult to get the story points in the tutorial.
I still haven't been able to find if XCOM2 is a dirty cheat and gives the players hidden bonuses to hit (and the aliens a penalty) on normal. Hopefully not doing so will prevent people complaining about the game "Cheating" on harder difficulties, because then everyone will get the same wonderful RNG shenanigans no matter the difficulty.
On the Firaxis stream they said that XCOM2's normal won't be cheating in player's favor any more.
That's fantastic, because I personally feel one of XCOM's biggest design flaws was doing that, because it just made going from normal to classic a gigantic cliff in difficulty. Also it made normal on XCOM much easier than it should have been.
Normal didn't do anything for you until you were down to 3 guys. Even then, it's just +10 aim for every miss, and -10 aim for every alien hit, resetting on a hit/miss respectively.
People drastically overstate it because, once again, people are bad at statistics.
Firstly, if you have FOUR soldiers it's 120% of displayed to hit value. EG: It gives you 20% bonus. You're on even terms at 5+
For every time you miss with a shot above 50% it adjusts your aim by 15% cumulatively. This is the in built "Gamblers fallacy" in normal.
Aliens chance to hit is decreased by 10% for every consequential hit they get, until they miss (then it resets to normal).
20% at 4 soldiers during the early part of the game - which is always - with a 15% bonus when you miss a >50% shot is absolutely massive. You don't need to understand statistics whatsoever to know that's a huge advantage. That's effectively ranking your soldiers up several times in aim right off the bat! Once you have 5+ soldiers you've probably ranked up, got some equipment and are now doing fairly well tactically, but it doesn't matter: If you lose one the game will go right back to giving you a whopping 20% bonus to hit. For all your attacks. Always. And a 15% cumulatively stacking bonus every time you miss, so once you start losing the game heavily compensates you. Except now it's compensating people who naturally have 80+ chances to hit.
So what is being overstated? 84% is the baseline for essentially a 100% shot on normal!*
Edit: Let me tell you, from modding the XCOM forums, the amount of people who think Normal has the "Correct" RNG and that Classic is broken cheating because they miss shots at 80% to hit was astounding. People literally had to have game code quoted to them proving that classic did nothing and that the game was manipulating numbers like a madman on normal to believe the game on normal was what was really cheating. Like if you miss a basic 65% shot, your next 65% shot is extremely close to 100% chance to hit, as it will be 65+20+15 = 100.
It probably doesn't help that if your soldiers miss a high percentage shot they too will yell that it's bullshit.
0
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jefe414"My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter"Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered Userregular
The big differences for me between normal and classic were:
1. Free OTS
2. cheaper soldiers
3. soldiers start with more HP
4. Aliens only advance on par with the XCom development level
The extreme shooting bonuses were there of course. Having a difficulty between the two was always something I wanted.
In terms of managing player expectations, it's nice if you display a die roller. People may not understand statistics, but they understand the concept of rolling over / under a target number, and showing them the roll can alleviate (some) frustrations.
Blood Bowl is far more random than XCOM, but it feels fairer to a lot of people because they can see the roll (even if the algorithm behind said roll is probably more or less the same).
I spent the long weekend on an Impossible run, before giving up in disgust and dropping back down to Classic which now seems too easy.
Why is it that I can remember the exact spot I can advance to that will not trigger pod activations, but I cannot remember to pick up laundry detergent?
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wiltingI had fun once and it was awfulRegistered Userregular
Okay, I am forced to concede the EXALT base assault is pretty fun.
It is hilarious blowing up their posh mansion, but I never do it anymore. EXALT are the single best EXP farm in the entire game, as their soldiers incompetently lemming into overwatch fire over and over. They are the best way to level up rookies or similar late game almost entirely safely. Ironically, because they don't have an objective to lemming towards in that mission, it means that specific level is the only time they'll ever be a significant threat to the player.
The Exalt Base was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On one hand, trashing the mansion is pretty neat, but on the other, it's a bit TOO trashable. Those sons of bitches apparently built their mansion out of wet cardboard. I lost a soldier, almost two, because every wall I took cover behind kept falling apart.
By the way, isn't there a decent amount of flavor text in the side rooms of that level? If so, I missed most of it, because I aggroed almost every enemy at once through the main room.
Emperor_Z on
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wiltingI had fun once and it was awfulRegistered Userregular
Someone should implement the darkest dungeon narrator as a soldier voice pack.
I actually think incorporating gambler's fallacy, or some equivalent is really good game design, because it helps normalize results towards expected values. It has been used with resounding success in MOBA/MMO critical hits, which often deliberately aim for a 25% crit rate happening once every 4 hits or so, rather than it being a streaky crit-crit-crit-crit-crit, which is likely enough over large numbers of games, and can ruin a PVP fight.
The Normal mode calculation was too player biased for a non-easy mode, but I think it is a good idea.
And for @Aegeri since I know you come from a pen and paper background, a lot of successful systems have things like Fate points, action points, narrative control, etc. that help mitigate pure RNG. Of course, such a thing would be very in theme with XCOM, as instead of the gambler's fallacy system to normalize hits over a single mission, you could have pure RNG, but then use a Commander Point system for those really important rolls.
In my experience, "let the dice fall where they may!" sounds more fun than it actually is, and can mess up other gameplay systems when it delivers weird results.
In general I super agree with you (and I loooove systems that implement the gambler's fallacy) though I'm not sure a system like that belongs in XCOM.
XCOM has (among others) two major overarching mechanical themes.
1. Being attacked by an enemy on the enemy turn is a BIG deal
2. Mistakes will be punished harshly, and weaknesses will be exploited just as harshly
This isn't news to anyone in this thread of course. However, the whole XCOM MO of "make sure you kill the aliens before they can shoot, or, worst case scenario, smoke, flashbang, hunker behind cover, give them the biggest hit penalty you possibly can" also relies on purity of the RNG to work.
Write up a new set of scripts in the first mission just to play each "and that is when we say goodbye to advent officer number one" for every shot you take at them that is reasonably likely to kill
Write up a new set of scripts in the first mission just to play each "and that is when we say goodbye to advent officer number one" for every shot you take at them that is reasonably likely to kill
...or the Jake Solomon, Gentleman Adventure version, calling of the percentage and adding "it's practically 100" no matter how low the shot chance actually is.
When you see a Ranger with a Machete and a Shotgun, you just keep on walkin'.
Dispatch this Alien in brutal fashion, that all may hear of your arrival! Send these vermin a message. The rightful master has returned, and their kind are not welcome!
Posts
Actually, you're quite mistaken.
Firstly, if you have FOUR soldiers it's 120% of displayed to hit value. EG: It gives you 20% bonus. You're on even terms at 5+
For every time you miss with a shot above 50% it adjusts your aim by 15% cumulatively. This is the in built "Gamblers fallacy" in normal.
Aliens chance to hit is decreased by 10% for every consequential hit they get, until they miss (then it resets to normal).
20% at 4 soldiers during the early part of the game - which is always - with a 15% bonus when you miss a >50% shot is absolutely massive. You don't need to understand statistics whatsoever to know that's a huge advantage. That's effectively ranking your soldiers up several times in aim right off the bat! Once you have 5+ soldiers you've probably ranked up, got some equipment and are now doing fairly well tactically, but it doesn't matter: If you lose one the game will go right back to giving you a whopping 20% bonus to hit. For all your attacks. Always. And a 15% cumulatively stacking bonus every time you miss, so once you start losing the game heavily compensates you. Except now it's compensating people who naturally have 80+ chances to hit.
So what is being overstated? 84% is the baseline for essentially a 100% shot on normal!*
Edit: Let me tell you, from modding the XCOM forums, the amount of people who think Normal has the "Correct" RNG and that Classic is broken cheating because they miss shots at 80% to hit was astounding. People literally had to have game code quoted to them proving that classic did nothing and that the game was manipulating numbers like a madman on normal to believe the game on normal was what was really cheating. Like if you miss a basic 65% shot, your next 65% shot is extremely close to 100% chance to hit, as it will be 65+20+15 = 100.
XCOM 2 doing away with this cheating is one of the best possible game design decisions they could have made.
*If this doesn't make sense, it's because the game soft caps the to bonus at a certain point and it has to get somewhere over 100% to really actually be 100% from bonus aim. At least according to the wiki and people I've asked.
Edit2: And sorry for the snarky response, but if you're going to say things like "People who don't understand statistics overstate it" you might want to actually be sure you know what you're talking about first
I hate nearly all the scripted maps in the original game, except maybe the base defense that only gets a nostalgia pass from me, with a passion. They are rote exercises in memorization and boring after the first time through, then it's a case of just remembering the spawns to trivialize any challenge they would have had. They were an utterly dreadful and completely anti-XCOM design, so I am over the moon they have done away with these scripted missions in XCOM2 (XCOM 2 procedurally generates its maps, even the gated story ones, so they will be different each time).
I will make one real exception: Newfoundland. Simply for entertainment value and concept. It can have a warm and happy place in my heart.
- Ashes & Temples (mostly because it varies the spawns & the verticality of the map is interesting to me)
- EXALT base siege because I will never, ever get tired of trashing that posh mansion while their computer ineffectually warns them about the 'security breach' (aka my MEC busting through their walls)
- Newfoundland, because there are a surprisingly large number of ways to tackle the map, including pure stealth
It is hilarious blowing up their posh mansion, but I never do it anymore. EXALT are the single best EXP farm in the entire game, as their soldiers incompetently lemming into overwatch fire over and over. They are the best way to level up rookies or similar late game almost entirely safely. Ironically, because they don't have an objective to lemming towards in that mission, it means that specific level is the only time they'll ever be a significant threat to the player.
Whoops, poor memory.
I'd like to point out that that wiki article is literally citing me, however.
:hydra:
The delicious irony.
In fairness to you, I've had this discussion many times. I could set my clock by the regular "The RNG is cheating on classic and impossible, how can I mod the RNG to work like normal" discussion. In which a disbelieving poster just cannot fathom that he can do napkin math where 3 90% shots in a row missed, that's impossible, THEREFORE the game cheats means he does not, have any clue, how games involving random dice work.
The Normal mode calculation was too player biased for a non-easy mode, but I think it is a good idea.
And for @Aegeri since I know you come from a pen and paper background, a lot of successful systems have things like Fate points, action points, narrative control, etc. that help mitigate pure RNG. Of course, such a thing would be very in theme with XCOM, as instead of the gambler's fallacy system to normalize hits over a single mission, you could have pure RNG, but then use a Commander Point system for those really important rolls.
In my experience, "let the dice fall where they may!" sounds more fun than it actually is, and can mess up other gameplay systems when it delivers weird results.
Having the game massage the numbers behind the scenes on some difficulties and not others just leads to an uneven difficulty curve.
I mean, ideally I'd like to see custom difficulties that allow greater granularity in difficulty. Like in EU/EW I'd gladly take Impossible difficulty on the tactical layer, if I could make the strategy layer like... Normal difficulty or something so I barely need to worry about it because I think it's largely bad and not fun. But like, apply that to other stuff like "Do you want the system to boost your hit rates for each miss" and so on and so forth.
And before anyone mentions it, I'm aware there is probably some mod or another that could accomplish my desired "Don't give a shit about strategy layer" difficulty mode.
Side note aiming angles and flank critical for second wave are my favourite. Nothing better than getting that sweet 9 dmg critical when your barrel is jammed in a sectoids mouth.
Now if they would just release the character editor so I can begin Operation Dress up.
his current best is July 12, 2015: http://imgur.com/a/y5ay3
LP of an older, slower (EU) run here:
It probably doesn't help that if your soldiers miss a high percentage shot they too will yell that it's bullshit.
1. Free OTS
2. cheaper soldiers
3. soldiers start with more HP
4. Aliens only advance on par with the XCom development level
The extreme shooting bonuses were there of course. Having a difficulty between the two was always something I wanted.
LOL
This is amazing.
I almost want to do an easy run now where I only use one guy/girl, ever.
(I'd probably get bored, though)
Blood Bowl is far more random than XCOM, but it feels fairer to a lot of people because they can see the roll (even if the algorithm behind said roll is probably more or less the same).
Why is it that I can remember the exact spot I can advance to that will not trigger pod activations, but I cannot remember to pick up laundry detergent?
The Exalt Base was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On one hand, trashing the mansion is pretty neat, but on the other, it's a bit TOO trashable. Those sons of bitches apparently built their mansion out of wet cardboard. I lost a soldier, almost two, because every wall I took cover behind kept falling apart.
By the way, isn't there a decent amount of flavor text in the side rooms of that level? If so, I missed most of it, because I aggroed almost every enemy at once through the main room.
Can I just have him replace Bradford
Darkest Dungeon narrator, Stanley Parable narrator, Cookie Masterson, and Logan Cunningham as Soldier voices
"Oh, I see you thought you could get away with just one more tile."
"Let me guess: you incorrectly assumed that a second 82% shot couldn't miss, right?"
"And now it is time for you to learn about dashing, and why you should not have done so with the last soldier to act on your turn."
In general I super agree with you (and I loooove systems that implement the gambler's fallacy) though I'm not sure a system like that belongs in XCOM.
XCOM has (among others) two major overarching mechanical themes.
1. Being attacked by an enemy on the enemy turn is a BIG deal
2. Mistakes will be punished harshly, and weaknesses will be exploited just as harshly
This isn't news to anyone in this thread of course. However, the whole XCOM MO of "make sure you kill the aliens before they can shoot, or, worst case scenario, smoke, flashbang, hunker behind cover, give them the biggest hit penalty you possibly can" also relies on purity of the RNG to work.
Just having it play '"Oi! Nutta!" when throwing a grenade.
edit: And a sitcom laugh track when the enemy crits one of your guys.
That would be remarkably entertaining.
And also take a million years.
--Mark Twain
JAKE SOLOMON!
FIX YOUR GAME!
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
...or the Jake Solomon, Gentleman Adventure version, calling of the percentage and adding "it's practically 100" no matter how low the shot chance actually is.
*Misses shot*
FUCK YOU I WAS RIGHT
Thanks now I need this.
Great.
Dispatch this Alien in brutal fashion, that all may hear of your arrival! Send these vermin a message. The rightful master has returned, and their kind are not welcome!
Looking forward to getting through all the new EW stuff!